Celebrate the people who've nurtured, inspired and supported you - or treat yourself to some well-deserved reading time - with this curated guide to the best books for Mother's Day.
Whether you're searching for the perfect gift for a mum who loves reading or looking for a great book for yourself, you'll find something special here.
From deeply moving novels to thoughtful, conversation-starting memoirs, these hand-picked titles are ideal for a wide range of readers. They offer comfort, connection and a chance to slow down, the kind of meaningful escape that makes the perfect Mother's Day gift.
If you're wondering 'what book should I buy my mum?' , start here.
Prize-winning picks
A mother following her heart. A father with the law on his side. A child caught in the middle.
1982 Dawn is a young wife and mother hemmed in by village life. Then Hazel appears like a torch in the dark. Their attraction is instant and suddenly Dawn’s world is more joyful, and more complicated, than she ever expected.
2022 Maggie has always lived with an absence where her mother should be. Her father never speaks of her and it feels impossible to ask. Then an official letter arrives with news from the past, and Maggie must face a truth far bigger than just her family’s secret.
Sarah Perry’s father-in-law David died in the autumn of 2022, only nine days after a cancer diagnosis. He was in some ways a very ordinary man: he loved stamp collecting, fish and chips, comic novels and his local church. Yet as Sarah and her husband Robert nursed David through his final days, they realised how extraordinary he really was.
This loving, clear-eyed and unforgettable book shows how death may be met and understood as a part of life – a universal experience that is terrible and beautiful, intimate and real, sometimes all at once.
Non-Fiction she needs
The extraordinarily powerful memoir by a heroine of our times, whose story inspires change, compassion and courage.
For the first time, and with unwavering honesty and grace, Gisèle Pelicot describes a difficult childhood, first love, her career and motherhood. It is a life in determined search of happiness, both before and after her devastating discovery. She is an ordinary person who faces extraordinary catastrophe, whose example changes the world.
Society isn’t working for women - or any of us.
But what if the rules were different?
Imagine a world in which women have all the power. A world in which they work together to shape their societies and their futures.
Essential reading for anyone interested in our collective histories, cultures, economics and governance, Herlands shows the power and possibility of new ways of living - and leading - for us all.
A love letter to all those who come alive when they pull a new treasure off the shelf, stay up late reading just one more page and pack their suitcases with clothes wedged between books instead of the other way around.
From well-worn literary classics to steamy bonkbusters, gripping thrillers, young adult novels and other not-so-guilty pleasures Bookish brims with literary insights, wry observations and stellar recommendations. This is an ode to the bookish places – from local libraries to bookshops big and small – and the stories that make us who we are.
Page-turning paperbacks
The unforgettable story of a tragic love affair, a lost boy and a tiny seafaring village finding new hope as its secrets come to light.
When Joseph, a soft-spoken fisherman, finds a little boy washed up on Skerry’s windswept beach, barely alive, his arrival unearths the villagers’ buried secrets.
As the snow cuts Skerry off from the rest of the world, school teacher Dorothy agrees to look after the child – and finds herself thrown together again with Joseph, after years of keeping their distance…
The truth might set her free … but will it be the death of her?
When blood spatter expert Claudia O’Shiel finds herself on stage to talk about the most famous criminal case in recent history, she has a choice to make: explain how her evidence put away the man responsible for the brutal double murder? Or tell them the truth – that the real killer is still out there, and if she tries to expose this conspiracy, it won’t just be her life on the line.
One evening, ten-year-old Louisa and her father take a walk out on the breakwater. They are spending the summer in a coastal Japanese town while her father Serk, a Korean émigré, completes an academic secondment from his American university. When Louisa wakes hours later, she has washed up on the beach and her father is missing, probably drowned.
The disappearance of Louisa’s father shatters their small family unit. As Louisa and her American mother Anne return to the US, this traumatic event reverberates across time and space, and the mystery of what really happened to Serk slowly unravels.
Fiction to escape into
One couple. One past. A million tomorrows.
Adam and Jules have been married for 25 years when they discover a time machine in their shed - can it bring back their romantic spark? Or will it unravel everything?
A funny, touching, hopeful story of love, marriage and second chances.
It’s the day before her daughter’s wedding and things are not going well for Gail Baines.
First thing, she loses her job (or quits, depending who you ask). Then her ex-husband Max turns up at her door looking for somewhere to stay.
Just as Gail is wondering what’s next, their daughter Debbie discovers her groom has been keeping a secret which could throw the whole wedding into question…